This Creamy Spinach Pasta is the ultimate comfort food–warm, creamy, rich-tasting, delicious, and filling–and really fast and easy. The best part is that you are eating oil-free and healthy, with servings of some of the most nutrient dense foods–healthy greens, beans, onions and seeds. You can literally have this nutritious meal ready in five minutes!

I came up with this pasta meal partly out of necessity–as the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. Back from a trip to Lake Tahoe for a couple of days, I had still not done any grocery shopping, and wanted to use up what I had in stock before replenishing.

I try to always have some frozen vegetables on hand, and I had some partially used bags of peas and spinach. (See my post on frozen food).  I also had some organic capellini pasta in the pantry. I usually do not eat a lot of white pasta, but I had it in stock leftover from a family dinner including kids who do not like whole grain pasta. These ingredients reminded me of a pasta dishes I once loved.

Years ago, I loved to make a creamy angel hair pasta dish with chopped spinach and lots and lots of fresh chopped mixed green herbs, such as parsley, basil, and mint, and lots of cream, butter and freshly grated parmesan. Later, I loved a vegan version of angel hair at Tre Lune, one of my favorite restaurants in Santa Barbara, made with spinach and broccoli, and lots of roasted garlic–no cream or cheese, but lots of olive oil. I was hungry for a pasta dish that was reminiscent of those formerly-loved, delicious ones, with all the green goodness and rich texture, and flavor, but without any of the dairy and oil–and it had to be made with ingredients I had in stock!

Along the pasta, spinach and peas, I found that I still had some homemade pico de gallo salsa–basically tomatoes, onions, jalapeño and cilantro, thatI I had made for a family brunch (see my Recipe post for Vegan Quiche with two salsas and guacamole here–  ) and that needed to be finished up soon. By the way, salsa is great as a cooking ingredient in many dishes that call for tomatoes and onions, because it easily replaces the need for chopping up an onion, and also gives a lot of added flavor without the extra work. You can use fresh homemade salsa or a good quality prepared salsa from the market.

I decided to try cooking the capellini pasta and frozen spinach at the same time in the same pot, and make some kind of a creamy sauce. So, I put some water on to boil and got out my Magic Bullet blender (get it here– http://amzn.to/2tk7i6a). The Magic Bullet is a great tool for making small amounts of sauces. I pulled together some other ingredients for a sauce to blend in the Magic Bullet and add to the cooked spinach and pasta.

While the water came to a boil. I put about a cup of frozen peas in the blender, after quickly defrosting them by rinsing with hot water in a sieve.

I added about 2 tablespoons of tahini for creaminess, and about the same amount of the pico de gallo. Nutritional yeast (get it here–  http://amzn.to/2tXADU4 ) adds an umami and almost cheesy character to pasta dishes, so I added some, along with salt and pepper and garlic. I wanted to add some fresh basil, but sadly, my basil did not survive the time of  my travels. I used some Kirkland salt free seasoning mix (get it here– http://amzn.to/2ujzbv6) and some dried Italian herbs. You can use whatever herbs you have. I also added a splash of balsamic vinegar (get it here– http://amzn.to/2sG9piI) for some acidity and a couple of tablespoons of hot water to help the sauce blend.

I blended all the sauce ingredients in the Magic Bullet by pulsing until the sauce was mixed but still slightly chunky, leaving some of peas intact.

Once the water was boiling, I added the pasta with the frozen chopped spinach on top and set a timer for 2 minutes. This should work with fresh spinach as well.

After 2 minutes, I drained the pasta and spinach into a colander, returned them to the pan, and mixed in the blended sauce.

I found that because I had so lightly blended the sauce, the garlic cloves were still whole. I just removed them and mashed them and returned to the pasta. I served the pasta with sprinkles of sesame seeds (get it here– http://amzn.to/2uqSu8r ) and chili flakes and some fresh ground sea salt and pepper. It was really delicious!

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Amazing 5-Minute Oil-free Creamy Spinach Pasta--Vegan and Oil-free

A delicious creamy pasta dish that is quick and easy loaded with nutrients from green, peas, and seeds. Make this fabulous and comforting entree in five minutes!

Course Main Course

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 2 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 2

Ingredients

Pasta and Spinach

• 4 ounces Capellini Pasta dry weight/ 1/4 box
• 1/2 bag Frozen Chopped Spinach

Sauce

• 1 cup Frozen Peas defrost by rinsing in hot water
• 2 tbsp Salsa fresh or prepared
• 2 tbsp Tahini
• 2 tpsp Nutritional Yeast
• 2 cloves Fresh Garlic minced
• 1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Pepper
• 1 tsp Dried Italian Herbs
• 1 tbsp Fresh Herbs, such as Basil optional
• 2 tpsp hot water

Optional Toppings

• sesame seeds
• chili flakes
• slivered fresh herbs

Instructions

For Pasta and Spinach

1. Bring a pot of water to boil. Starting with hot water will speed up the process. In the meantime make the Sauce per the following instructions. When the water is boiling, add the pasta and the spinach and cook for 2 minutes. Do not overcook or the pasta will be mushy. (If using another type of pasta, cook for the directed time and add the spinach in the last 2 minutes of cooking time.) Drain the pasta in a colander and return to the pan.

   

For the Sauce

1. Add all Sauce ingredients to a blender and blend until mixed but still slightly chunky. Empty the sauce into the pan with the drained pasta and spinach and mix to incorporate evenly.

   

Serve with Toppings as desired